Firstly, I would like to give a special thank you to a reader by the name of krachwarn. Were it not for them and their amazing comments, I probably would have given up on this work for lack of reader interest.

Secondly, I made a few changes to chapters 1 and 2. Nothing major, just a few new lines here, deleted a tiny fragment there, tweaked some words and grammar. You don't need to go back and reread it if you don't want to.

Enjoy.

"Death?" Ben sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to shake off the newest wave of his mysterious headache. If people were going to keep randomly appearing out of thin air, could they at least make sense? Was that seriously too much to ask for?

"Well, you're death." Decker confirmed.

"You know what?" Ben had enough. "I don't care if I'm just imagining you, if you're not going to help I'm done talking to you."

"That's fine." Decker shrugged. "It's like you said, I'm dead."

Up until then, Decker's face was mostly neutral with a hint of amusement. As Ben watched, Decker's lips slowly lifted in a grin more deranged than the one Decker wore earlier.

A trickle of water began dripping from Decker's mouth, growing steadily stronger as Ben watched. At first, he thought Decker was drooling, but there was far too much to be that.

"Oh, Ben." Decker laughed, his voice coming out like he was talking through a mouthful of water, rising to his feet with his head tilted down out of Ben's line of sight. "You have no idea."

When Decker's face rose to face Ben again, Ben's eyes shot open wide in alarm.

Decker's body, completely dry a mere heartbeat ago, was now soaked through and dripping with fresh water. As if he'd just come out of the ocean. But what freaked Ben out the most was the copious amount of water pouring from his mouth like a faucet.

"Better run, Ben." Decker gurgled, the words almost impossible to understand. Raising a finger, he pointed behind Ben. "She's here."

Once again, Ben was completely floored when he followed Decker's direction. Maddie said she was here, but Ben hadn't dared to hope.

Ryn.

Ben was overjoyed to see another friendly face, especially the familiar mermaid. The only other one Ben would have been as happy to see was Maddie, but that that one hadn't gone so well.

Regardless, Ryn was approaching instead of walking away like Maddie had done. Ben took solace in that fact at the very least. It would be even better if she could give him a clear answer as to what was going on. Neither Maddie nor Decker had been all that forthcoming.

"Ryn…" Ben wanted to sprint over to the mermaid in his excitement but forced himself into a brisk walk to match her pace. While delighted to see her, there was a weird nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach. An unease Ben couldn't seem to shake.

The first hint something was off was when the song echoing across Bristol Cove stopped when Ryn closed her mouth. That should have tipped Ben off, but he overlooked it in his excitement. Only once Ryn was close enough to see clearly did Ben comprehend something was horribly amiss.

It was Ryn, there were no mistaking her distinctive features, but said features were… wrong. The first thing to catch Ben's eye was her face. Her facial structure, while unique as it was, didn't look right, her countenance twisted in an unnatural way. It wasn't just her expression either, her face looked more like it did in her mermaid form. And were those scales on her neck?

While accustomed to Ryn letting out the occasional hiss or something, the sound Ryn made chilled Ben to the core. Her mouth opened partially in the process, allowing Ben to see the razors that lined her mouth. Due to the distance, he hadn't seen them when she first arrived.

A quick glance down brought the revelation that Ryn's hands didn't even look vaguely human. Both were completely covered in scales, their bones twisted in a way that certainly wasn't human, the fingers themselves ending in wicked talons.

Ben didn't know why he did it, maybe his instincts realized the danger before he did, but he took a step back from Ryn. If he hadn't, a swipe of Ryn's claw would have gutted him on the spot. She missed flesh, grazing the fabric of his shirt instead.

Ben retreated, but Ryn followed. She snarled like a beast, coming at Ben with full intent to kill.

Ryn certainly would have, had a harpoon not caught the mermaid in the shoulder just then.

Ryn stumbled back in pain, clutching at her wounded shoulder. Ripping the spear out of her body, she moved to press the assault, but a second landed a direct hit in her stomach.

"BEN! MOVE!" Xander screamed from his car nearby, already reloading for a third shot.

Ben scrambled away while Ryn was briefly stunned from the surprise attack. She recovered a lot faster than Ben expected, though. He felt her make a grab for him but slipped from her grasp before she could get a proper grip.

Xander fired a third harpoon over Ben's shoulder but Ben didn't stop to see if it even hit.

"Get in!" Xander was in the driver seat, the car already running. Ben was rather amazed he hadn't heard the car's engine this entire time. In the silence of the empty Bristol Cove, it should have been hearable for miles.

Ben was almost to the car when he risked a look at Ryn. He watched her rip another harpoon out of her leg, but there was no blood. Ben watched the projectile be torn from her body, and yet there wasn't a single sign she'd ever been hit. Her shoulder and stomach were similarly unmarred. The third hit Ben hadn't seen, but he knew for a fact the first two found their mark.

So why wasn't she hurt?

In truth, Ben was grateful she was unharmed. For some reason, she wanted him dead. If she did, there must have been a very good reason. One that she would have told him then and there if it was within her power.

Even if it was life or death like that was, Ben wasn't sure he could have brought himself to hurt the mermaid. Ben liked to think he was one of the scant few humans Ryn could trust and rely on, and that was something Ben would rather not jeopardize.

Ben didn't waste time running around the car for the passenger seat. Instead, he tore open the back-seat door and dove in. It wasn't even closed before Xander gunned the engine. The vehicle speeding off with a squeal of rubber against pavement.

"What the hell happened to Ryn?" Ben demanded, climbing across the console into the front seat.

Perhaps Ryn was sick with some kind of mermaid specific illness? Something that regressed her mind and forced her more feral side out into the open? But this didn't explain her mermaid attributes on land.

Recalling his unpleasant reunion with Maddie, Ben remembered that she said Ryn was around. Judging by the way Ben's gir… ex-girlfriend, had worded it, she knew Ryn was like this. Not only did she know, but she hadn't seemed to care. Did Maddie truly hate him that much to not warn him about a potential killer lurking around?

"Did we lose her?" Xander ignored Ben's query, his focus on the road.

"Of course we did, we're…" Ben had to do a double take when he looked in the rearview mirror. Shooting up in his seat to look behind them with his own eyes, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

They certainly hadn't lost Ryn, she was giving chase on foot.

"She's still coming!" Ben watched, almost unable to comprehend what he was seeing. Ryn wasn't just running, the mermaid was catching up to their speeding car, and fast. Ben knew Ryn could be fast on her feet when needed, but outrunning a car? That should have been impossible.

Yet another item to add to the list titled 'impossible things that happened today'.

"Hang on." Xander warned before cutting a sharp turn. Ben, having forgotten his seatbelt in the chaos, was smacked against the passenger window. It hurt, but he imagined whatever fate Ryn had planned for him was going to be far worse.

Xander ducked and weaved through the parked cars of Bristol Cove with uncanny skill. Ben wouldn't have thought his old friend was that good of a driver. They were already leaving the city limits of Bristol Cove before Ben knew it.

Once the pair escaped the crazed mermaid, hopefully Xander could provide Ben with some reasonable answers. Thus far his potential sources were an angry ex, a dead man that made little sense, and a bloodthirsty mermaid that didn't want to talk. Not very good options.

Ben, once he recovered from his introduction to the window, attempted to get another look behind them for Ryn, but was stopped short with another terrible lance of pain through his temple. It was too similar to what he felt earlier to not be related.

"Ben?" Xander must have caught sight of Ben doubling over in his seat, clutching his head. "Just hold on, okay?"

Ben tried to hold it in, but he couldn't contain the scream when he was hit with another fresh burst of agony. This time it was like his forehead was struck with a sledgehammer. This wasn't like the standard throbbing of a headache. It actually felt like something invisible was striking his head again and again.

Ben's entire world was spinning uncontrollably when Ben heard the heavy thud above his head.

"Look out!" Xander grabbed the dazed Ben by the shoulder and shoved him forward in the seat just as the clawed hand drove through the car's roof. Had Xander not done so, the points would have stabbed into Ben's back.

Xander swerved repeatedly in an attempt to throw the mermaid off, but she held fast. Several more arm sized holes were punched before Ryn started tearing the roof away in chunks. The entire time she hissed and growled like a wild animal, nothing like the Ryn that Ben remembered.

"Ben, seatbelt!" Xander slammed his foot on the gas. The sudden jerk cost Ryn her footing, knocking her feet out from under her, but she managed to remain on top using the handholds she'd made in the roof.

When Ben saw the roadside guardrail approaching rapidly, he knew Xander's intentions.

Ben had just managed to click his seatbelt into place when the car slammed through and went careening off the road.

Xander's car wasn't exactly designed for off-road travel, but he managed to swerve to avoid the huge tree right in their path. They'd have all three been taken out if they'd struck it head on. The rearview mirror hadn't been so lucky.

Fortunately, the woods in this portion wasn't as dense as the rest. The accelerating car simply ploughed through the underbrush and smaller trees with little to no trouble. They didn't have long until they reached the thicker parts. If they didn't lose Ryn by then, Ben and Xander would be screwed.

"Come on!" Xander risked a look up where he and Ben found Ryn was still clinging to the roof of the car. Her clawed hand with an iron grip in one of the holes she made. As long as she held, the mermaid wasn't going anywhere. "Ben, take the wheel."

"What?" Ben wasn't given a choice in the matter when Xander released the steering wheel. Ben immediately snatched hold in an attempt to steer their way through the snapping wood and vines. Not that it would matter, he had no clue where they even were at this point. The best he could hope was to avoid anything that looked too big to run over.

Catching a glint of light on the metal of Xander's knife from the corner of his eye, Ben didn't need to wonder what Xander's intentions were.

"Stop!" Ben snatched hold of Xander's wrist before he could use the knife.

"She's trying to kill you!" Xander switched the blade to his spare hand, no doubt expecting Ben to keep one hand on the wheel.

Which Ben didn't.

"It's her or you." Xander implored, trying to wrestle his hands free from Ben.

"She's just sick." Ben shot back. "I can't let you hurt her."

"She's not sick, you idiot." Xander sounded more annoyed than angry. "You are!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means…" Xander interrupted himself when he glanced back to the windshield, which both men had been neglecting. "Oh, crap."

Following the fisherman's gaze, Ben found that their car had broken clear of the forest. Except, now it was hurling at near top speed for what looked like a steep cliff.

It was too late to turn, they were going too fast. Xander tried to slam on the break, but again their speed was too high.

Hearing another hiss from above, Ben looked up in time to see Ryn sail over the roof of the car. She was able to stay on, but now found herself on the hood. The only thing separating herself from Ben and Xander was a measly pane of glass.

In the exact same moment that Ryn pulled her fist back to punch through the glass, Xander rammed the gas pedal.

Ryn's position was again destabilized and she did a faceplant into the windshield. Ben winced, though he knew Ryn could shrug off a blow so minor. It didn't make it any easier to watch.

Neither was it easy to watch those eyes of hers up close, once so full of wonder and curiosity, now flooded with raw hate and bloodlust. The look on her was so alien, Ben briefly wondered if this even was Ryn.

"Here we go!" Xander called out, their car flying over the edge of the cliff.

Still working on where I want to go with this. I have the end figured out and a couple major points, but I'm still working on how we get there. Please drop a comment/review so I know what you all think.